


The Right Eliot for Us

by meils121



Category: Leverage
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff and Angst, Multi, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-23 19:35:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13197093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meils121/pseuds/meils121
Summary: Not everyone is born with a name already on their skin.  Eliot isn’t.  He spends the first few years of his life blissfully unaware of what a name means.  It isn’t until he’s five or six that his mama starts to worry.  He remembers overhearing her talk to his grandma one day, saying how she’s not so happy about the age difference that he and his soulmate will have.  There’s a pause, and then Eliot hears something else that he shouldn’t have.  His mama takes a deep breath and adds, “What if his soulmate was born and died, and we never noticed?”  His grandma pats his mama’s arm, says something about how it’s much too early to worry, and Eliot slips away to think about this new information.





	The Right Eliot for Us

            Not everyone is born with a name already on their skin.  Eliot isn’t.  He spends the first few years of his life blissfully unaware of what a name means.  It isn’t until he’s five or six that his mama starts to worry.  He remembers overhearing her talk to his grandma one day, saying how she’s not so happy about the age difference that he and his soulmate will have.  There’s a pause, and then Eliot hears something else that he shouldn’t have.  His mama takes a deep breath and adds, “What if his soulmate was born and died, and we never noticed?”  His grandma pats his mama’s arm, says something about how it’s much too early to worry, and Eliot slips away to think about this new information.  

            He’s nine when his classmates start talking about the names on their skin, showing off scribbles of _John_ and a loopy signature of _Hannah_.  Eliot shrugs off the questions about his own name, even though he’s starting to think maybe his mama was right.  He tries not to think about it much, though.  After all, he’s nine and a boy and he may not believe in cooties, but he’s not exactly interested in girls yet.

            It’s a few months after his tenth birthday when he feels a weird sensation near his hipbone and looks down to see that there’s a name there now.  He rushes downstairs to show his mama.  “Alec!  My soulmate’s name is Alec!”  Eliot yells.

            There’s a bit of a silence that meets his announcement.  Eliot runs into the living room only to realize his daddy is home too.  “That’s not a girl’s name.”  His daddy says.  

            “It could be.”  His mama says in her voice that she only uses when she thinks his daddy is about to lose his temper.  “You never know nowadays.”

            Eliot knows enough to let the subject drop, and he goes back to his room feeling disappointed.  He thought everyone would be excited about him finally getting his soulmate’s name.  It’s not until later, when his mama tucks him in, that he understands why.

            “Your daddy doesn’t really understand soulmates.”  She tells him as she pulls the covers up.  “He thinks only a man and a woman should be soulmates, but that’s not true.  Your soulmate is the person who loves you more than anything else.”

            “Does Daddy love you more than anything else?”  Eliot asks.  His mama smiles.

            “He does.  He just has a hard time showing it sometimes.”  She says.  She presses a kiss against his forehead and says goodnight, leaving Eliot to his thoughts.

            A couple of years later, he feels that weird sensation again on the opposite side where Alec’s name is.  This name says Parker.  Eliot doesn’t tell anyone about it.  Most people don’t get two soulmates.  And besides, this sounds like a guy’s name too, and while Eliot isn’t totally against the idea of having a guy as his soulmate, he knows his dad is still against it.  So Parker stays his secret.  

            Sometimes he wonders about his soulmates.  He’s older than them, a lot older.  He never really thought about what that would mean until now.  Would he be the odd one out, since Alec and Parker are much closer in age?  Would they find each other before they find him?  Would they even want him?

            Eliot’s sixteen when his mama gets sick.  She’s dying when Eliot finally tells her about Parker, about his fears that his soulmates won’t want or need him.  She squeezes his hand and tells him not to be silly.  “Soulmates will always need each other.”  She tells him, and he finds out just how true that is after she dies.  His dad is heartbroken, a shell of the man Eliot knew.  Maybe a better person would have stayed home, but Eliot can’t live with his dad’s grief in addition to his own.  The moment he turns eighteen, he signs up for the army and never looks back.

            The problem with soulmates is that you can feel their emotions, if they’re really strong.  Eliot hates the emotions he feels through their bond.  One of his soulmates - and he doesn’t know who - is often scared, a flare of unexpected fear racing through Eliot at inopportune times.  It makes his heart hurt, but his head says that he’s got more important things to deal with.  

            Some days, Eliot thinks that maybe his soulmates will be better off without him.  He’s twenty-three now, doing the sort of jobs that the Army would never admit to.  He knows that he’ll probably end up dead, another body for his daddy to bury.  His name will fade from his soulmates’ skin, and maybe they’ll wonder for a while about him, but they have each other.  They’ll get over it.

            Only Eliot doesn’t die.  He’s good at what he does.  He tries not to think too much about the emotions and phantom feelings he sends through the bond.  Do Parker and Alec wonder why sometimes their hearts race for no good reason?  They’re old enough now that they’ve probably guessed that Eliot’s been shot.  That sort of pain travels through bonds.  Sometimes, when Eliot’s alone in the dark of night and unable to sleep, he wonders what they must think of him.  

            They must think he’s some type of monster.

            Eliot’s twenty-seven and out of the army and into hell on earth.  He’s doing things that no one should do.  He hates himself.  That sort of thing travels through bonds too, the strong emotions that he buries deep inside himself.  His soulmates must hate him by now.  He’s - he’s okay with that.  He doesn’t deserve a soulmate anyways.  Alec and Parker will have each other, and he’ll live this life until one day it all catches up to him.  

            But that’s not what happens, and Eliot’s honestly not sure how he goes from straight-up assassin to owning his own brew pub.  It’s not a huge place, not fancy by any means, but it’s his and that’s really all that matters.  He doesn’t sleep much, still haunted by nightmares, but now he’s got something to do when he can’t sleep.  He messes around with recipes and a part of him aches.  He wants his soulmates now, wants them more than anything.  Wants to prove to them that he’s changed.  Maybe, he hopes, they can tell by the way his emotions aren’t as dark and violent.  Maybe they’ve noticed that the pain of being punched and stabbed has given way to the burns Eliot gets sometimes when he cooks.  But maybe it’s too late.

            He thinks his soulmates have found each other by now.  There’s often the flood of emotion that can only be described as love coming through the bond, and Eliot tries not to feel jealous.  He’s happy that they found each other.  He just wishes he could find them.  

            Sometimes, Eliot traces his finger over the names on his hip bones.  Alec’s name is written in blocky letters.  Parker’s is hard to make out, a careless scribble of someone who has better things to do than to write their name.  Eliot wishes, not for the first time, that he could send them a message.

            He’s owned the brew pub for exactly two years and one month when things start becoming strange.  First he gets the odd sensation that he’s being watched.  He switches up his patterns, worried that there’s someone from his old life after him.  He puts in better security measures at the brew pub and moves apartments.  The feeling goes away.

            But then there’s a break-in at the brew pub, and maybe no one else would have noticed, but Eliot knows exactly how he leaves his kitchen each night, and there wasn’t a mostly-eaten bag of chocolate chips out on the counter when he left the night before.  

            He considers selling the brew pub.  The only thing that stops him is the knowledge that if someone wanted him dead, they’d already have done it.  He’s still nervous though.

            It’s closing time and Eliot’s in the kitchen, cleaning up for the night.  He hesitates for a moment before taking out a slice of chocolate cake and leaving it on the counter.  Maybe it will still be there in the morning.  Maybe it won’t be.

            Eliot wakes up in the middle of the night when the bond flares up with happiness.  The cake is gone when he comes into the brew pub the next morning.  It’s his turn to feel happy and overwhelmed.  His soulmates - at least one of them - are here.  They’ve found him.  He’s not sure why they’re breaking into his kitchen, but that’s okay.  If this is how they want to do things, he’s okay with that.  He’ll do anything for his soulmates.

            That’s - that’s a weird thought.  It’s true, though.  So Eliot leaves out another slice of cake and scribbles ‘Enjoy’ on a notepad.

            The next morning, there’s a note back.  “Hardison says to tell you not to leave anymore cake.  It makes me too hyper.”  

            Eliot stares at the unfamiliar name.  Hardison could easily be a last name, he knows, but now he’s left with doubt that maybe these aren’t his soulmates.  Maybe he’s just got friendly thieves breaking in to the brew pub.  But that is just too weird to even consider, so Eliot decides to forge on.

            That night, he leaves out two bowls of chili next to the microwave.  The note is written by a different person this time.  “Holy cow that was good.”  Eliot stares at the note.  The letters are the same blocky style as the name on his skin.  Alec left him a message.

            Eliot’s got enough information now, he thinks, to figure out who at least one of his soulmates is.  He calls up an old army friend and asks them for information on Alec Hardison.  Part of him feels guilty for doing things this way, but he doesn’t exactly have the choice of breaking into his soulmates’ house every night to find out information about them like they have apparently decided to do.  

            It doesn’t matter, in the end, because before his friend calls him back, a couple walks into the brew pub and sits down at the bar right in front of Eliot.

            “Eliot?”  The woman asks.  She looks confident enough, but something about her tone suggests that she’s worried.  

            “That’s me.”  Eliot says, glancing at them.  His heart starts to race, and he’s honestly not sure if it’s because of what he’s feeling or what his soulmates are feeling.  Because this is them.  He can just tell.

            “I’m Parker.”  The woman says.  “And this is Hardison.  Uh, Alec.  We’re - we’re here.”  She says.

            And it’s one thing to know that your soulmates are nearby and another entirely to be standing in front of them and trying to process that this is actually happening.  

            “You’re here.”  He repeats, looking between them.  “Holy shit.  You’re here.”

            Alec gives him a grin.  “Well, we’ve been here.”  He says.  “Thanks for the chili, man.”

            Parker leans in.  “We broke in.”  She tells him, like it’s a perfectly normal topic of conversation.  “I had to make sure you were the right Eliot.  And then I had to make sure you were the right Eliot for us.”

            And that hurts a bit, but Eliot knows he gave them plenty of reason to doubt him.  “Amy, I’m taking the rest of the day off.”  He yells.  Then, to Hardison and Parker, “I live upstairs.  Wanna come talk?”

            Parker’s already heading for the door.

            Eliot’s apartment isn’t much, but in the time he’s been here, he’s actually accumulated more stuff than he ever thought he’d have.  Still, there are only two chairs, and Parker ends up perched on Hardison’s lap.  

            “We’ve been looking for you.”  Hardison says.  “For a couple years now.  Ever since - ever since things settled, you know?”  The bond, he means, and Eliot does know.

            “I’m sorry.”  He says.  

            “Nah, man, don’t be.”  Hardison says easily.  “Me and Parker, we get that things weren’t easy for you.”

            Eliot gives him a look.  “How would you know?”  
            “You mean other than the goddamn bullet wounds that showed up on my skin and had my nana freaking out?”  Hardison asks.  “I’m a hacker.  I know how to find people.”

            “You didn’t know my last name.”

            Parker shrugs.  “That’s why it took two years.”  She says.  “But we’re here now.  And - and you want us to be, right?”  Her voice is low and cautious, like she’s scared Eliot’s about to kick them out or say he doesn’t believe that soulmates work.

            “Yeah, I want you here.”  Eliot says.  “I just thought you’d never want me.  I mean, the bullet wounds, the other injuries - I figured you’d guys be scared of me.  And the age difference, too.”

            “But you’re Eliot.”  Parker says, puzzled.  “And we’re soulmates.  We’re supposed to be together.”

            Eliot feels something inside of him relax.  Because, yeah, they are soulmates.  And his soulmates didn’t run away from him.  They searched and searched and never gave up until they found him.  And that - that makes Eliot happy.  

            He’s even more happy when Parker bounces across the room and tugs him into a tight hug.  Hardison wraps his long arms around both of them and Eliot feels the flare of love in their bond.  

 


End file.
